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Aston Villa make up more than half of the Premier League worst XI. A Wolves midfielder is also included despite apparently turning the game against Saints.
Here is the worst XI, according to WhoScored ratings, from the weekend’s matches…
GK: Robert Sanchez – 5.02
Brighton struggled to make their dominance pay against Palace so the last thing they needed was for Spanish Bob to drop another bollock when under no pressure to gather Michael Olise’s free-kick. “He can make mistakes for sure,” said Roberto Di Zerbi. “It’s not a problem.” It is, though, really…
RB: Ashley Young – 5.86
The Villa veteran struggled against Jack Grealish and though he received plenty of help from Jacob Ramsey, the City star still found plenty of space. Young was pinned back and struggled to help Villa’s attack, with his only cross going the same way as five of his six long passes: to a City player.
CB: Calum Chambers – 5.12
Chambers struggled more than most in the Villa side, with the centre-back culpable for City’s second, when he first took the ball away from his keeper before being turned inside out by Erling Haaland. The ex-Arsenal defender also failed to win a tackle and more than half of his 10 long balls gave possession back to City.
CB: Eric Dier – 5.77
Not allowed within five yards of Kelechi Iheanacho, apparently, which directly and indirectly played a part in Leicester’s second and third goals. Nor did Dier fancy getting too close to Harvey Barnes when the Foxes attacker scored the hosts’ fourth. Probably the poorest of a p*ss-poor lot for Spurs.
LB: Lucas Digne – 5.73
Similar to Young, Digne was too preoccupied by City’s forwards to get forward himself. Booked and hooked after an hour with his place at Villa under huge threat from Alex Moreno, especially while the Frenchman is becoming a regular in this worst XI.
CM: Mario Lemina – 5.17
The Wolves midfielder was sent off for two bookings inside 27 minutes on his return to his former club. Which you might think would have cheered Nathan Jones, but apparently not. The now-departed Saints boss felt going down to 10 men played into Wolves’ hands.
CM: Remo Freuler – 5.72
Freuler is the only Forest representative in this week’s worst XI despite Brennan Johnson, Gustavo Scarpa and Chris Wood all earning sub-six ratings in their defeat at Fulham. The skipper lost all but one of his five duels and was dribbled past three times as the Cottagers bypassed him and the rest of the Forest midfield.
RW: Jacob Ramsey – 5.69
Seemed to be under strict instruction to help Young with Grealish, who teased a penalty out of the Villa midfielder to put the game beyond the visitors before the break. Ramsey completed only six passes from 18 touches in 76 minutes.
LW: Emi Buendia – 5.77
It was a similar story on the opposite flank for Villa, with Buendia managing just one more touch than Ramsey in the hour he was given at the Etihad. No shots, crosses or even a dribble attempted by the Argentina international before he was replaced by Jhon Duran.
CAM: Dejan Kulusevski – 5.93
Tottenham’s front three were all woefully quiet at Leicester, which is becoming a pattern for Kulusevski. Lost possession 18 times and came out second best in 10 of his 15 duels.
CF: Leon Bailey – 5.95
Bailey also lasted an hour alongside Ollie Watkins, during which time he completed a pass once every quarter of an hour. Starved of service but the Jamaica star didn’t do enough to play himself into the game, with Duran a greater threat amid an improved Villa performance as City took their foot off the gas.
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